Massive new data centers are the physical foundation for tech companies’ hopes and dreams for AI. But the rush to expand warehouses full of energy-hungry servers has also kicked up fights across the world over their impact on power grids, utility bills, nearby communities, and the environment.
Data centers were a major bipartisan issue ahead of the 2026 midterms, and voters largely opposed data center expansion at the polls. Tech giants like OpenAI and Amazon are promising to work more closely with local communities and cover their data center energy costs. But following the election, Democratic leaders are calling for further data center restrictions and slowdowns that the AI companies will have to grapple with.
From audacious plans about data centers into space, heated local battles over buildouts, and potential environmental impacts, here’s The Verge’s news, coverage, and reporting surrounding data centers and the companies that are building them.
- Lame-duck Congress might actually do something: speed up energy projects
- “We are a data center first company,” AMD CEO Lisa Su says.
- OpenAI is stepping back from NDAs for data center projects
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Data centers lost the midterms
- Maine Republican Susan Collins concedes Senate seat in a tech-fueled race.
- Democrat projected to win Ohio seat that Republicans warned could spell trouble for data centers.
- Data center-dense Texas turns blue.
- OpenAI is quietly renaming data centers ‘compute campuses’
- OpenAI pitches data center power plants as a way to protect nearby areas
- Could data center backlash flip Florida?
- Prop 45 in California could be hiding a loophole for data centers
- Maine’s data center revolt will decide who controls the Senate
- Data centers could send US climate pollution skyrocketing
- AI has come for Arizona’s water
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Voters in Texas agree: They hate data centers
- Highway robbers are targeting trucks carrying data center components.
- Data center backlash is uniting America
- Anthropic is burning gas to feed the AI boom
- It’s a good time to sell gray paint.
- Data centers could erase decades of air quality gains
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Trump says paying communities a “dividend” could make data centers more popular.
- Texas is still permitting data centers despite a supposed statewide moratorium.
- The fossil fuel comeback is here
- Microsoft abandons the UK’s largest data center project.
- Amazon is funding a new nuclear plant in Indiana
- You’ve got to hear both sides?
- Neocloud CoreWeave’s bonds are distressed, and so am I.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- A bipartisan bill aims to hold data centers accountable for their energy use.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Google’s power-hungry data centers crave nuclear energy
- A Japanese real estate company is building a data center in an underground tunnel.
- If a data center is camouflaged in the woods, will anyone hate it?
- Amazon writes scary blog warning communities not to block data centers
- The People of Utah vs. Kevin O’Leary
- South Park has a data center infestation.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Trump: “You’re going to see — data centers are going to be very popular.”
- Google is sending an AI satellite into space next week
- Data centers are black boxes, but California wants to change that
- Americans sour even more on data centers.
- California tightens rules on AI data center energy and water use
- Virginia governor creates an AI task force and moves to restrain data centers
- The AI data center e-waste problem is huge — and getting bigger
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- AI and data centers are incredibly unpopular in every poll
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Is this the future of America?
- A Microsoft-backed data center has reportedly been running on unpermitted generators.
- Trump’s EPA wants to let data centers hide their air pollution
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Now OpenAI’s former head of data centers is out.
- There’s a surge of new gas projects being built to power data centers in the US.
- The latest turn in the data center debate.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Nvidia guarantees up to $105 billion to support an OpenAI data center.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- An Amazon data center could have the worst polluting power plant in the country
- The left and right agree on one thing: no data centers
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- AMD’s data center business is booming while gaming takes a backseat
- At least 37 people have reportedly been arrested for protesting data centers.
- Texas says data centers must pass an audit before connecting to the grid
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Willie Nelson is pushing back against data centers in his hometown.
- Meta and BlackRock are building a data center campus together.
- The right-wing boomers protesting data centers have a lot in common with the left
- Utility companies promise to spare us from AI’s energy bill
- Meta reportedly considers leasing computing power to Anthropic.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- AI’s power bill is here.
- New York becomes the first state to enact a data center moratorium
- The fight against AI data centers is just beginning
- Would you host part of an AI data center in your home?
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Anthropic signs 20-year lease agreement for an AI data center in Kentucky.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Meta might launch its own cloud computing business.
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- Nvidia says its AI data center design runs hotter to use a lot less water
- Amazon employees say they’re facing termination for backing data center limits
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- xAI’s gas-powered data center is necessary for national security, DOJ argues.
- SpaceX reportedly rented out Colossus 1 AI data center after it ran into latency issues.
- Amazon’s data centers used 2.5 billion gallons of water last year
- This week in the big AI data center buildout.
- GM thinks EVs can help offset AI’s energy suck with vehicle-to-grid tech
- Amazon employees ask Seattle to put the brakes on new data centers
- The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center